Bidar

Overview

In the 1420s the Bahmani sultan Ahmad Shah moved his capital from Gulbarga to Bidar, and the city's fort, madrasa and tombs date from what followed. Bidar is the headquarters of Bidar district, in the north-east corner of Karnataka on a plateau at roughly 700 m. A Bidar tour appeals to people interested in Deccan history and crafts, and the cooler stretch from October to February, with daytime highs under about 34 C, is when the long walks are comfortable.

The fort was rebuilt between 1429 and 1432 and is entered through a series of gateways, with the Mandu Darwaza as the main one. Its walls run for about 2.5 km, and a three-channel moat protects the south side. Inside, the Rangin Mahal takes its name from the coloured tiles on its walls, and the Solah Khamba mosque has a broad dome over nineteen arches. A Persian-style underground channel known as the Karez once carried groundwater into the fort. It is a protected site and open to the public.

In the town, the Mahmud Gawan Madrasa was completed around 1472 by a Persian-born minister of the Bahmani court. It measures about 62 by 55 m and rises to roughly 40 m, and it once housed a library and hundreds of students. Gunpowder and later lightning destroyed part of it, but patches of glazed tile still show on the surviving walls. Bahmani royal tombs, among them the Ashtur group, round out the list.

Bidar's other well-known visit is religious. Guru Nanak Jhira Sahib, a gurdwara built in 1948 in a valley ringed by laterite hills, stands at a spring said to have flowed for more than 500 years, and it runs a langar round the clock. The Papnash Shiva Temple, tied by local belief to Rama's return from Lanka, draws a different set of pilgrims.

Then there is the craft that carries the city's name. Bidriware is a blackened zinc and copper alloy inlaid with silver, a tradition that began under the Bahmani sultans and holds a Geographical Indication registration from 2006. Bidar is still its main production centre, and the dark finish is traditionally produced with soil taken from the fort.

Hyderabad's international airport is the main air link at about 140 to 150 km, and Bidar has its own railway station. Bengaluru is around 690 km by road. Allow two days, or three if you add the gurdwara and the Papnash temple.

Known for

Rebuilt 1429 to 1432, with a wall of about 2.5 km and a three-channel moat